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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1984

Thunderstorm cloud top dynamics as inferred from satellite observations and models

Satellite observations of convective towers penetrating the tropopause are summarized. Three classes of thunderstorm cloud tops including storm tops that have a monotonic temperature-height pattern with the highest point being the coldest point (class 1), tops that have a colocated cold and high point with the warm point on the downward slope to the rear of the highest point (class 2), and tops in which the cold point is offset upwind from the high point, with a cold-warm couplet straddling the convective cloud top (class 3), are described. A one-dimensional cloud parcel model applied in the overshooting region is used to explore the causes of the storm top's unique temperature/height structures.

Adler, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Chemical consequences of the initial diffusional growth of cloud droplets - A clean marine case

A simple microphysical cloud parcel model and a simple representation of the background marine aerosol are used to predict the concentrations and compositions of droplets of various sizes near cloud base. The aerosol consists of an externally-mixed ammonium bisulfate accumulation mode and a sea-salt coarse particle mode. The difference in diffusional growth rates between the small and large droplets as well as the differences in composition between the two aerosol modes result in substantial differences in solute concentration and composition with size of droplets in the parcel. The chemistry of individual droplets is not, in general, representative of the bulk (volume-weighted mean) cloud water sample. These differences, calculated to occur early in the parcel's lifetime, should have important consequences for chemical reactions such as aqueous phase sulfate production.

Twohy, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Stratospheric aircraft exhaust plume and wake chemistry studies

This report documents progress to date in an ongoing study to analyze and model emissions leaving a proposed High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) from when the exhaust gases leave the engine until they are deposited at atmospheric scales in the stratosphere. Estimates are given for the emissions, summarizing relevant earlier work (CIAP) and reviewing current propulsion research efforts. The chemical evolution and the mixing and vortical motion of the exhaust are analyzed to track the exhaust and its speciation as the emissions are mixed to atmospheric scales. The species tracked include those that could be heterogeneously reactive on the surfaces of the condensed solid water (ice) particles and on exhaust soot particle surfaces. Dispersion and reaction of chemical constituents in the far wake are studied with a Lagrangian air parcel model, in conjunction with a radiation code to calculate the net heating/cooling. Laboratory measurements of heterogeneous chemistry of aqueous sulfuric acid and nitric acid hydrates are also described. Results include the solubility of HCl in sulfuric acid which is a key parameter for modeling stratospheric processing. We also report initial results for condensation of nitric acid trihydrate from gas phase H2O and HNO3.

Miake-Lye, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1980

A numerical determination of the evolution of cloud drop spectra due to condensation on natural aerosol particles

The time variation in size of aerosol particles growing by condensation is studied numerically by means of an air parcel model which allows entrainment of air and aerosol particles. Particles of four types of aerosols typically occurring in atmospheric air masses were considered. The present model circumvents any assumption about the size distribution and chemical composition of the aerosol particles by basing the aerosol particle growth on actually observed size distributions and on observed amounts of water taken up under equilibrium by a deposit of the aerosol particles. Characteristic differences in the drop size distribution, liquid water content and supersaturation were found for the clouds which evolved from the four aerosol types considered.

Lee, I. Y.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Field and Satellite Observations of the Formation and Distribution of Arctic Atmospheric Bromine Above a Rejuvenated Sea Ice Cover

Recent drastic reduction of the older perennial sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has resulted in a vast expansion of younger and saltier seasonal sea ice. This increase in the salinity of the overall ice cover could impact tropospheric chemical processes. Springtime perennial ice extent in 2008 and 2009 broke the half-century record minimum in 2007 by about one million km2. In both years seasonal ice was dominant across the Beaufort Sea extending to the Amundsen Gulf, where significant field and satellite observations of sea ice, temperature, and atmospheric chemicals have been made. Measurements at the site of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen ice breaker in the Amundsen Gulf showed events of increased bromine monoxide (BrO), coupled with decreases of ozone (O3) and gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), during cold periods in March 2008. The timing of the main event of BrO, O3, and GEM changes was found to be consistent with BrO observed by satellites over an extensive area around the site. Furthermore, satellite sensors detected a doubling of atmospheric BrO in a vortex associated with a spiral rising air pattern. In spring 2009, excessive and widespread bromine explosions occurred in the same region while the regional air temperature was low and the extent of perennial ice was significantly reduced compared to the case in 2008. Using satellite observations together with a Rising-Air-Parcel model, we discover a topographic control on BrO distribution such that the Alaskan North Slope and the Canadian Shield region were exposed to elevated BrO, whereas the surrounding mountains isolated the Alaskan interior from bromine intrusion.

Nghiem, Son V.↗
NASA NTRS2015

High Ice Water Content at Low Radar Reflectivity near Deep Convection: Part II. Evaluation of Microphysical Pathways in Updraft Parcel Simulations

The aeronautics industry has established that a threat to aircraft is posed by atmospheric conditions of substantial ice water content (IWC) where equivalent radar reflectivity (Ze) does not exceed 20-30 dBZ and supercooled water is not present; these conditions are encountered almost exclusively in the vicinity of deep convection. Part 1 (Fridlind et al., 2015) of this two-part study presents in situ measurements of such conditions sampled by Airbus in three tropical regions, commonly near 11 km and -43 C, and concludes that the measured ice particle size distributions are broadly consistent with past literature with profiling radar measurements of Z(sub e) and mean Doppler velocity obtained within monsoonal deep convection in one of the regions sampled. In all three regions, the Airbus measurements generally indicate variable IWC that often exceeds 2 gm (exp -3) with relatively uniform mass median area-equivalent diameter (MMD(sub eq) of 200-300 micrometers. Here we use a parcel model with size-resolved microphysics to investigate microphysical pathways that could lead to such conditions. Our simulations indicate that homogeneous freezing of water drops produces a much smaller ice MMD(sub eq) than observed, and occurs only in the absence of hydrometeor gravitational collection for the conditions considered. Development of a mass mode of ice aloft that overlaps with the measurements requires a substantial source of small ice particles at temperatures of about -10 C or warmer, which subsequently grow from water vapor. One conceivable source in our simulation framework is Hallett-Mossop ice production; another is abundant concentrations of heterogeneous ice freezing nuclei acting together with copious shattering of water drops upon freezing. Regardless of the production mechanism, the dominant mass modal diameter of vapor-grown ice is reduced as the ice-multiplication source strength increases and as competition for water vapor increases. Both mass and modal diameter are reduced by entrainment and by increasing aerosol concentrations. Weaker updrafts lead to greater mass and larger modal diameters of vapor-grown ice, the opposite of expectations regarding lofting of larger ice particles in stronger updrafts. While stronger updrafts do loft more dense ice particles produced primarily by raindrop freezing, we find that weaker updrafts allow the warm rain process to reduce competition for diffusional growth of the less dense ice expected to persist in convective outflow.

Reflectivity↗
NASA NTRS1986

An analysis of the high-latitude thermospheric wind pattern calculated by a thermospheric general circulation model. II - Neutral parcel transport

A diagnostic package developed to analyze runs made by the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere general circulation model is used to calculate neutral parcel trajectories in the high-latitude E and F regions. Parcel trajectories are presented for a number of different cases to illustrate the main characteristics of F region parcel transport in the winter high-latitude region. Several examples of E region parcel trajectories are similarly analyzed, concentrating on both the southern (summer) and northern (winter) regions. F region parcel trajectories are calculated backward in time from passage over a given geographical location to illustrate the 'genesis' of those parcels whose velocities can be monitored from a ground-based Fabry-Perot observatory.

Killeen, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Analysis of the Global Microwave Polarization Data of Clouds

Two NASA microwave radiometers, the satellite-borne GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) Microwave Imager (GMI) and the aircraft-borne CoSMIR (the Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer), measure vertically- and horizontally-polarized microwaves emitted by cloud particles and the Earth below, providing unique information on ice crystal properties in clouds. Their data reveal that non-spherical ice crystals are common and they fall in a preferred horizontally aligned orientation in convective and optically thick clouds especially near cloud top. A bin (particle-size-resolving) microphysical model with an ice crystal shape representation is developed to simulate the evolution of ice crystal properties (i.e., size, shape and orientation), where the radiation effect on microphysics (REM) is taken into account. Since REM represents the effect of all (e.g., both infrared and solar) radiation on ice crystal temperature, it relies upon the ice crystal proprieties that determine how an ice crystal receives radiation. Definitely, REM is different from the radiative effects that cause sensitivity at the microwave frequencies in the GPM and CoSMIR observations. Model results show that horizontally-oriented ice crystals grow faster than vertically-oriented (or spherical) ones due to REM. When both horizontally- and vertically-oriented ice crystals coexist in an air parcel, the model results show that the former grow by vapor deposition whereas the latter shrink by sublimation and disappear eventually. These modeling results are supported by the GMI data and the CoSMIR observations from MC3E (Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment) and OLYMPEX (Olympic Mountains Experiment) on the prevalence of horizontally-oriented ice crystals. Moreover, the REM-induced precipitation explains the CloudSat observations of rare thin clouds in the tropical mid-troposphere as well as the common diamond dust in the high latitudes.

Xiping Zeng↗
NASA NTRS1983

A mechanistic model of Eulerian, Lagrangian mean, and Lagrangian ozone transport by steady planetary waves

Ozone transport is calculated for steady, dissipative planetary waves using the Eulerian, Lagrangian mean, and residual circulation. A Lagrangian model of parcel dynamics is used to interpret planetary wave-photochemistry interaction. In chemically active regions the mean field ozone changes are found to be significant only where there are large gradients in chemical sources and sinks along parcel trajectories. The largest changes in the mean field are found in the lower stratosphere and are due to the Lagrangian mean advection. When the Lagrangian mean advection is approximated by the residual circulation, errors in the transport velocities as large as 30 pct may occur.

Rood, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Tropospheric Ozone Pollution from Space: New Views from the TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) Instrument

New products from the TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) >satellite instrument can resolve pollution events in tropical and mid-latitudes, Over the past several years, we have developed tropospheric ozone data sets by two methods. The modified-residual technique [Hudson and Thompson, 1998; Thompson and Hudson, 1999] uses v. 7 TOMS total ozone and is applicable to tropical regimes in which the wave-one pattern in total ozone is observed. The TOMSdirect method [Hudson et at., 2000] represents a new algorithm that uses TOMS radiances to extract tropospheric ozone in regions of constant stratospheric ozone and tropospheric ozone displaying high mixing ratios and variability characteristic of pollution, Absorbing aerosols (dust and smoke; Herman et at., 1997 Hsu et al., 1999), a standard TOMS product, provide transport and/or source marker information to interpret tropospheric ozone. For the Nimbus 7/TOMS observing period (1979-1992), modified-residual TTO (tropical tropospheric ozone) appears as two maps/month at I-degree latitude 2-degree longitude resolution at a homepage and digital data are available (20S to 20N) by ftp at http://metosrv2. umd.edu/~tropo/ 14y_data.d. Preliminary modified-residual TTO data from the operational Earth-Probe/TOMS (1996- present) are posted in near-real-time at the same website. Analyses with the new tropospheric ozone and aerosol data are illustrated by the following (I)Signals in tropical tropospheric ozone column and smoke amount during ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) events, e.g. 1982-1983 and the intense ENSO induced biomass fires of 1997-1998 over the Indonesian region [Thompson et a[, 2000a, Thompson and Hudson, 1999]. (2) Trends in tropospheric ozone and smoke aerosols in various tropical regions (Atlantic, Pacific, Africa, Brazil). No significant trends were found for ozone from1980-1990 [Thompson and Hudson, 19991 although smoke aerosols increased during the period [Hsu et al.,1999]. (3) Temporal and spatial offsets ("paradoxes") in tropical tropospheric ozone and smoke aerosol in regions of greatest tropical biomass burning [Thompson et at., 1996;2000b]. (4) Trans-boundary pollution tracking. With an air parcel (trajectory) model, smoke aerosol and ozone and dust plumes can be tracked across oceans (e.g., Asia to North America; North America to Europe) and national boundaries, e.g. Indonesia to Singapore and Malaysia during the 1997 ENSO fires.

Thompson, Anne M.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Influence of Lower Tropospheric Moisture on Local Soil Moisture-Precipitation Feedback Over the U.S. Southern Great Plains

Land-atmosphere coupling (LAC) has long been studied focusing on land surface and atmospheric boundary layer processes. However, the influence of lower tropospheric (LT) humidity on LAC remains largely unexplored. In this study, we use radiosonde observations from the U.S. Southern Great Plains (SGP) site and an entrained parcel buoyancy model to investigate the impact of LT humidity on LAC there during the warm season (May–September). We quantify the effect of LT humidity on convective buoyancy by measuring the difference between the 2–4 km vertically integrated buoyancy with and without the influence of background LT humidity. Our results show that, under dry soil conditions, anomalously high LT humidity is necessary to produce the buoyancy profiles required for afternoon precipitation events (APEs). These APEs under dry soil moisture cannot be explained by commonly used local land-atmosphere coupling indices such as the convective triggering potential/low-level humidity index (CTP/HI Low ), which do not account for the influence of the LT humidity. On the other hand, consideration of LT humidity is unnecessary to explain APEs under wet soil moisture conditions, suggesting the boundary layer moisture alone could be sufficient to generate the required buoyancy profiles. These findings highlight the need to consider the impact of LT humidity, which is often decoupled from the humidity near the surface and largely controlled by moisture transport, in understanding land-atmospheric feedbacks over dry soil conditions, especially during droughts or dry spells over the SGP.

Gaoyun Wang↗
NASA NTRS1988

Photochemical trajectory modelling studies of the 1987 Antarctic spring vortex

Simulations of Antarctic ozone photochemistry performed using a photochemical model integrated along air parcel trajectories are described. This type of model has a major advantage at high latitudes of being able to simulate correctly the complex interaction between photolysis and temperature fields, which, because of the polar night cannot be represented accurately in a zonally averaged framework. Isentropic air parcel trajectories were computed using Meteorological Office global model analyses and forecast fields from positions along the ER-2 flight paths during the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment in Austral Spring 1987. A photochemical model is integrated along these trajectories using the aircraft observations to initialize constituent concentrations. The model includes additional reactions of the ClO dimer and also bromine reactions, which are thought to play a significant role in Antarctica. The model also includes heterogeneous reactions which are invoked when the air parcel passes through a polar stratospheric cloud (PSC). The existence of a PSC is determined throughout the course of the model integration from the parcel temperature and the saturated vapour pressure of water over an assumed H2O/HNO3 mixture. The air parcel temperature is used to determine the saturated vapor pressure of HNO3 over the same mixture. Mixing ratios which exceed saturation result in condensation of the excess in the model and hence lead to a reduction of the amount of gas phase NO2 available for chemical reaction.

Austin, J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A computationally efficient model for turbulent droplet dispersion in spray combustion

A novel model for turbulent droplet dispersion is formulated having significantly improved computational efficiency in comparison to the conventional point source stochastic sampling methodology. In the proposed model, a computational parcel representing a group of physical particles is considered to have a normal (Gaussian) probability density function (PDF) in three-dimensional space. The mean of each PDF is determined by Lagrangian tracking of each computational parcel, either deterministically or stochastically. The variance is represented by a turbulence-induced mean squared dispersion which is based on statistical inferences from the linearized direct modeling formulation for particle/eddy interactions. Convolution of the computational parcel PDF's produces a single PDF for the physical particle distribution profile. The validity of the new model is established by comparison with the conventional stochastic sampling method, where in each parcel is represented by a delta function distribution, for non-evaporating particles injected into simple turbulent air flows.

Litchford, Ron J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lagrangian Assimilation of Satellite Data for Climate Studies in the Arctic

Under this grant we have developed and tested a new Lagrangian model of sea ice. A Lagrangian model keeps track of material parcels as they drift in the model domain. Besides providing a natural framework for the assimilation of Lagrangian data, it has other advantages: 1) a model that follows material elements is well suited for a medium such as sea ice in which an element retains its identity for a long period of time; 2) model cells can be added or dropped as needed, allowing the spatial resolution to be increased in areas of high variability or dense observations; 3) ice from particular regions, such as the marginal seas, can be marked and traced for a long time; and 4) slip lines in the ice motion are accommodated more naturally because there is no internal grid. Our work makes use of these strengths of the Lagrangian formulation.

Lindsay, Ronald W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Evaluation of an efficient statistical transport model for turbulent droplet dispersion in dilute combusting sprays

Evaluation of an efficient statistical transport model for turbulent droplet dispersion is made for a dilute spray of methanol droplets injected into a turbulent, axisymmnetric methane-fuelled diffusion flame burning in stagnant air. In the dispersion model, a computational parcel representing a group of physical particles (droplets) is considered to have a normal probability density function (pdf) in space. The mean is determined by Lagrangian tracking through a sequence of stochastically generated turbulent eddies and the variance is evaluated from a statistical formulation based on the linearized particle equations of motion. The basic validity of this model is established through comparison with available experimental data and with theoretical predictions using a conventional stochastic direct modeling approach. The conclusion of the evaluation is that the proposed dispersion model compares favorably with experimental data and provides a valid technique for simulating turbulent combusting sprays with significant computational savings over conventional methods.

Litchford, Ron J.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Lateral Shock of the R Aquarii Jet

The R Aqr jet was observed with the VLA B-configuration at two epochs separated by approximately 13.2 yr. Comparison of the resulting 6 cm continuum images show that the radio jet has undergone a lateral counterclockwise rotation of approximately 6 deg-12 deg on the plane of the sky. The model of jet parcels on independent trajectories is difficult to reconcile with these observations and leads us to consider a path-oriented jet (i.e., younger parcels follow the same path as older parcels). Comparison of the most recent radio image with a nearly contemporaneous HST/FOC ultraviolet image at approximately 2330 Angstroms suggests that the ultraviolet emission lies along the leading side of the rotating radio jet. In conjunction with a proper motion analysis of the jet material that yields empirical space-velocity and resulting acceleration-magnitude relationships as a function of distance from the central source, we evaluate the observational results in terms of a schematic model in which the jet emission consists of plane-parallel isothermal shocks along the leading edge of rotation. In such a radiating shock, the ultraviolet-emitting region is consistent with the adiabatic region in the form of a high-temperature, low-density sheath that surrounds the cooled postshock radio-emitting region. Within the context of the schematic model, we obtain the temperatures, densities, and pressures within the preshock, adiabatic, and postshock regions as a function of distance from the central source; the physical parameters so derived compare favorably to previously published estimates. We obtain a total jet mass of 3.1 x 10(exp -5) solar mass and an age of approximately 115 yr. We evaluate the model in the context of its density-boundary condition, its applicability to an episodic or quasi-continuous jet, and angular momentum considerations.

Hollis, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Distribution of Halon-1211 in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere and the 1994 Total Bromine Budget

We report here on the details of the first, in situ, real-time measurements of H-1211 (CBrClF2) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) mixing ratios in the stratosphere up to 20 km. Stratospheric air was analyzed for these gases and others with a new gas chromatograph, flown aboard a National Aeronautics and Space Administration ER-2 aircraft as part of the Airborne Southern Hemisphere Ozone Experiment/Measurements for Assessing the Effects of Stratospheric Aircraft mission conducted in 1994. The mixing ratio of SF6, with its nearly linear increase in the troposphere, was used to estimate the mean age of stratospheric air parcels along the ER-2 flight path. Measurements of H-1211 and mean age estimates were then combined with simultaneous measurements of CFC-11 (CCl3F), measurements of brominated compounds in stratospheric whole air samples, and records of tropospheric organic bromine mixing ratios to calculate the dry mixing ratio of total bromine in the lower stratosphere and its partitioning between organic and inorganic forms. We estimate that the organic bromine-containing species were almost completely photolyzed to inorganic species in the oldest air parcels sampled. Our results for inorganic bromine are consistent with those obtained from a photochemical, steady state model for stratospheric air parcels with CFC- I I mixing ratios greater than 150 ppt. For stratospheric air parcels with CFC-11 mixing ratios less than 50 ppt (mean age greater than or equal to 5 years) we calculate inorganic bromine mixing ratios that are approximately 20% less than the photo-chemical, steady state model. There is a 20% reduction in calculated ozone loss resulting from bromine chemistry in old air relative to some previous estimates as a result of the lower bromine levels.

Wamsley, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Trajectory Simulations of Upper Tropospheric Humidity

We present comparisons of simulations of upper tropospheric humidity at 215 and 146 hPa with satellite measurements. Our model uses diabatic trajectories to advect water vapor from an initial condition of 100% relative humidity to the final state. The model does not allow parcels' relative humidity to exceed 100%, and in this way crudely incorporates condensation. We find that this simple model does a good job of simulating the observations. Sensitivity studies suggest that one must have realistic wind velocities in order to accurately simulate the humidity distribution; microphysical parameterizations seem to be less important. Comparisions between simulations using UKMO and NCEP horizontal winds will be discussed.

Dessler, A. E.↗